ABSTRACT

Frank Hendryx’s journey to Cairo began in mid-1948 when, together with his family, he embarked for Rio de Janeiro to become general counsel to the Standard Oil Co. do Brasil– an affiliate of Jersey Standard. Hendryx arrived in Brazil at a time of heightened political tension arising from, among other things, a campaign– which kicked off in 1947– to assert state control over the country’s petroleum resources. Hendryx’s opinion that the 1943 Hydrocarbons Reform was the bedrock upon which Venezuela’s economic prosperity rested was a widely shared one, not least by observers and officers from other oil exporters. Hendryx’s intervention prompted the ire of delegates not present on behalf of governments of oil-producing countries. Hendryx’s exit from the Saudi scene marked the end of the road for the idea that the major concession agreements could be redrafted by the parties to them, in a spirit of cooperation.